Hardly waiting to hear the few kind expressions of sympathy and approval which he addressed to her, she hinted timidly at the proposal which she had now to make to him.
"Are you going back into the next room ?" she asked.
"Not if you object to it," he replied.
"I don't object.

I want you to be there." "After Horace has joined you ?" "Yes.

After Horace has joined me." "Do you wish to see me when it is over ?" She summoned her resolution, and told him frankly what she had in her mind.
"I want you to be near me while I am speaking to Horace," she said.

"It will give me courage if I can feel that I am speaking to you as well as to him.

I can count on _your_ sympathy--and sympathy is so precious to me now! Am I asking too much, if I ask you to leave the door unclosed when you go back to the dining-room?
Think of the dreadful trial--to him as well as to me! I am only a woman; I am afraid I may sink under it, if I have no friend near me.